"Captain, can we take a break?" Tenzou gasps out, sweat dampening his uniform. He's been with Kakashi for a while already, why does he still ask these kinds of questions? He knows he'll never receive any mercy, not from him.
"No way! There's still a long way until we reach Konohagakure! Don't tell me all this tree jumping got you on the ropes?" He teases him. They have been tree-jumping for hours on end at this point after an urgent delivery mission. It went quite well, with no bandits or rogue ninjas intercepting them. They delivered the package with no further issue, and Kakashi thought of a way to train Tenzou's stamina right then and there. By tree jumping all the way from the remote base back to their village without resting, Tenzou can effectively train his muscles during a mission with little risk.
His teammate started to run out of breath after six hours, and they have been running for fourteen hours straight now, so he kind of sounds like a dying fish. "You need to train those legs of yours so you can handle Might Guy's training no problem. At this point, you won't be able to catch up to him anytime soon!"
"Captain, we have been running for so long, cut me some slack alright! You can't expect someone with my physique to run that long, do you? I was stuck in a test tube for God knows how long!" Tsk tsk, always so whiny, this one. "This mask makes it so hard to breathe, can I take it off for a while?" He grabs his ANBU mask and mimics a pulling motion.
"Of course not! Do you see me catching my breath? Come on Tenzou, I believe in you! If we don't make it to the ANBU headquarters in four hours, I'll call Guy!" He cheerfully informs his subordinate and hears him groaning. "Plus, you have the mokuton, and I am an elite Jounin, we must make it back quickly, the Hokage needs us! The village might be in a crisis with us gone!"
"Captain, I don't think those people in charge would be so inadequate that the village would be in danger without us in it for a few hours! Stop messing with me!" Tenzou grits out, clearly showing his frustration. Of course, he doesn't really think the village would be on fire if they left for a day or two when he said it. Hell, the worst that could happen was probably some noble getting pissed about not getting 'Kakashi of the Sharingan' for an escort mission, but the excuse is clearly riling Tenzou up, so he decided to use it is all.
Of course, what kind of ANBU captain would he be if he didn't fuck with his subordinates? "If you have the energy to chat and complain, you can move those stubby legs faster!" He yells, and increases his speed by twofold. "You better keep up, Tenzou! The map is in my hands, you don't want to get lost now, do you?"
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"Captain! I think I can see the village gates!" Tenzou exclaims, rushing to them with the last of his energy. Kakashi hops down from a tree and leisurely strolls to the entrance where some gate guards are posted.
"Hold up, do you have identification on you?" The gate guards halt them by holding out a hand. Kakashi hands them his papers and digs Tenzou's out from his pockets. One of the Chunin takes a look at it, and visibly sags in relief. "Thank God you're here now, Hatake. I don't know how long this can hold up, with the situation in the village as bad as it already is. Go see the Hokage quickly, he asked for your audience in the Hokage tower immediately after you return."
The guards hand him back their papers and then point them to the tower, shooing them away. Huh, is it that bad? Normally people would not be happy to see him, so something must have gone terribly wrong. He grabs Tenzou before he falls down and jumps up to one of the highest buildings. At that height, he can see the village of Konohagakure in all its glory. The tall Hokage tower, the endless number of houses, and the streets that are full of people. Hell, the Uchiha district looks livelier than ever, with their ninja and civilians out and about, each of them holding weapons!
Wait, that's not right, weapons?
He observes much more closely. Noticing their distrustful glances and wary postures. Their police force is only patrolling the Uchiha districts, and most of their ninja seem all fitted out with full body armor? What is this, the third war all over again?
Judging from the look on Tenzou's face, he realizes it too. "Senpai, you really should watch that mouth of yours, Konohagakure was all normal when we left, and when we came back, it's in the middle of a bloody war!"
'I'm sure it's not that bad, Akari's in the village, isn't she? Maybe there was a misunderstanding and she's defusing the situation now. Let's just see what the Hokage wants to tell me and let her work her magic!" He forces some cheer in his voice, puts down Tenzou and body flickers to the Hokage tower. "In the meantime, go clean that mess up with the rest of the ANBU, alright? No rest for you yet."
He goes up to the room the Hokage should be in and knocks. "Sir, Kakashi Hatake, Jounin, reporting back from a B-ranked mission. I heard you summoned me, may I come in?"
He hears a faint "Come in!", and he opens the door to the Hokage office. He takes a look at Hiruzen Sarutobi and immediately steps back on reflex. He's making a really displeased face right now, and is that gray hair? He could have sworn that patch of hair was pretty black when he saw him yesterday. He glances around, noticing the messy desk, with piles and piles of paperwork on it. Ah, it must be the paperwork. He does not envy the Hokage one bit.
"I'll skip straight to the point. Multiple ROOT agents tried to injure or kill Akari Uchiha. She fought back and defeated them but is currently injured and unconscious. With her absence, the Uchiha have grown restless, with the majority scared of the possibility of an attack by our ninja forces. Some minor ninja clans even sided with the Uchiha, with riots and protests having broken out in several places. Seven people are already injured, and more will be if we don't fix this situation quickly. We need you to lead several ANBU teams and guard the hospital that Akari Uchiha is currently recovering in, and the academy with the students still stuck there." The Hokage sighs. "I also need Tenzou to help keep a close eye on the Uchiha, if this situation gets any more heated, his mokuton would help with non-lethal takedowns if it comes to it. The ANBU are demoralized, and you know all fifty of them worship the ground you walk on, give them a speech or anything to make them confident, and get this situation under control."
"What." Kakashi forces out, his knuckles whitening. His mind processes all the shocking information. "With all due respect, what the fuck." He hisses. "You said ROOT wasn't going to do anything drastic before, and that you would monitor it closely. That is the only reason that I haven't torn it down before when Tenzou was discovered. I leave for a day, and you let them injure Akari Uchiha? You know how the Uchiha view her, and you let her be injured, out of all people?"
The Hokage grimaces at his sharp words. "Be that as it may, we need to control the damage caused by this. This can easily escalate. WIth Jiraiya out of the village and Tsunade still out there drinking her life away, you're the only S-ranked ninja beside me present right now. We need your strength, and the ninjas need someone to rally behind. You're the only candidate besides Shikaku, and God knows the man needs a break, he rarely slept in the last thirty-six hours! Just treat this as a mission and finish it, the sooner this crisis is behind us, the happier we can all be." His grip on the hat on his head tightens. "You can yell at me all you want after this blows over, but for now do the job assigned to you, and the peace can continue for another day. You're dismissed."
"...Yes sir." He says numbly, way too shocked because of what he heard to argue. Honestly, how did this happen so suddenly?
He sprints to the many hospitals looking for Akari, and finds her in the main one that has hundreds of people trying to force their way in. He immediately asks for her condition, and his dread decreases by a bit when he was informed by a medic that she suffered no lasting injuries. Only then does he head to ANBU headquarters to gather the needed agents, barking out orders for the disorganized personnel inside and assigning them areas to guard and giving them some encouragement. The poor sods look like they need it, with how exhausted they seem.
He really shouldn't be surprised, Akari has always been a trouble magnet even when he had taken her on as an apprentice. This must be retribution to all the times he was late to their training sessions. What the fuck did she get herself into this time?
Really, she's more trouble than she's worth, but Akari's the only person other than Tenzou and Might Guy that he can call a good friend, so even if he won't ever admit it, he's extremely worried about his idiotic student. She's suffering from extreme chakra exhaustion and multiple large cuts for God's sake!
"Well, guess I'm going to have to clean up your mess again, just like old times, eh?" He can already feel a headache coming, this is certainly not going to be pleasant.